Michael Clayton (2007)

Another nominated for this year's Oscars. Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is 'mr. fix it' in a law firm. We do not get to see how Michael fixes things but we do see how he doesn't - he is in a middle of a too-obvious-to-be-real moral dilemma out of which he is lucky enough to get out. Mr Clooney does an normal job at acting - which in some contexts is praised as masterful. I find much better Tom Wilkinson who has fewer but poignant scenes. Also Tilda Swinton is great at creating tensions while all the tensions are only economically pointed at. The plot wants to be intricate but it ends up being just a bit convoluted. Another OK movie that makes me think there were better years in the life of cinema.

My Blueberry Nights (2007)

Eventually we went to the movies! My Blueberry Nights it was. Personally, I adore blueberries and I would never leave a blueberry pie untouched if Jude Law's café happened to be in my neighbourhood. Typically for Kai War Wong movies (Ulli says - I haven't seen it but "In the mood for love" is very nice she says), the images are strong. He plays a lot with colours the scenes are bathed in and he's not shy to make it fully orange or blue, with mirrors and café windows through which you watch everyday phrases gain deeper meaning, and his style is very slow. I liked for instance how the whole first part is set only in the café where Elizabeth (Norah Jones) tells Jude Law about her unfaithful boyfriend. We never get to see the boyfriend except once when she watches him through a window. There's a cheesy bit about keys that people left at his café and never pick up, and the love-on-first-sight way Norah Jones and Jude Law get in touch ("I need to talk to some one. Can I come in?") is also a bit unusual for a regular NYC café I'd say. But then it gives a nice frame for the road trip she's taking and she can write him postcards from everywhere ("I always had the feeling I could tell you everything"). - There's a strange contrast between the slowness of the images and numerous observation scenes, and the fact that there is No development of the relationship whatsoever. Really - if the love on first sight thing didn't work, it'd be pretty tough for them to get together. Norah Jones as an actress.. hm. It always seems she is watching very attentively something on the far horizon. But the song in which she sings "I don't know how to tell the story, it's all been told before" at the beginning and end of the movie is nice.

Merlin I and II

Merlin is a TV production, but nevertheless a very good one. The saga of Arthus is told from Merlins (Sam Neil) point of view. Merlin is the creation of Map (Miranda Richardson), the dark queen of the old way. She wants him to bring the humans back to the old way and she fears the Christianity. Because she will vanish if nobody believes in her. Merlin grows up at the nurse Ambrosia. When he becomes eighteen Map comes to take Merlin to teach him magic. But he can olny think of the girl whose life he saved, Nimue (Isabella Rossellini. When Map kills his nurse Ambrosia Merlin averts from her and never wants to use magic again. he becomes involed in the rising and falling of kings and he is the teacher of Arthus, who builts Camelot. But he can never forget Nimue. The special effects are really not worth to mention, but the actors are fantastic. Sometimes you are reminded to a theatre, which I find very good.

Darjeeling Limited

This is the name of the train in india where the three brothers Francis, Peter and Jack start their spiritual search. They haven´t senn each other for one year, since the funeral of their father. The chaotic trip developes not quite how they imagended it, so they get kicked out of the train, decide to meet their mother and do some sidseeing in between. Tragic and funny at the same time. I love it.

Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995)

To prepare for my trip to St. Andrews and Scottish especially, I decided to watch Scottish movies. I thought it might be a good idea to start with the one about Scotland's "independence": Braveheart. - Scotland, around 1300. Lots of warriors. - I liked Mel Gibson's Scottish accent, I thought it wasn't bad. Some other people sound quite American, that's funny... but then I remembered how much English itself changed from earlier (Shakespeare let's say, or think of medieval German literature) to now and I realize probably it doesn't matter anyway. For instance William Wallace (Gibson) telling the French princess "I don't know why I tell you this, probably because your looks remind me of my wife whose killing by the English is the whole reason for this combat" made me laugh. - In general I liked the movie, though. Actually this medieval kind of raging and killing I enjoy. Usually I get disgusted by fights, but all this beating, slicing and stabbing I found quite well-done. Maybe modern technologies are just too complicated for me, or it's that I long for the uncivilized life. - Another thing: this freedom babble. How does it work, can you imagine they were all shouting "freedom!" when they rushed into battle? And what did they mean by it? Unfortunately That we don't get to see because after Wallace dies there is only 90 seconds left to the three hour movie, in which the Scots overthrow the English and gain it. Happy-go-lucky toys...-----ok I have a have a problem uploading the pic. Imagine a long-haired dirty guy with a sword walking towards you, and everything behind him burning, but the cool way.

The Orphanage/El Orfanato

A child disapears and his mother tries to find her adopted son til the end. He had seen children that died a long time ago, his new friends, but his parents thought it was a only childrens game. Then he disapears and to find out the truth his mother has to leave all her fears snd doubts behind. This movie is thrilling, it´s so scary if I had been alone to watch it I would have left the room. And still there is a fairy tale hinding inside. The soundtrack is awesome, it cerates this whole dark and mysteries atmosphere that surounds the story. The actors are brilliant, especially Belén Rueda. Do I have to say more?

The Notebook

Yes I know I am fully into love stories right now, but sometimes is just has to be...So here we go. An old man reads out of a notebook to an old lady. He is reading the love story of a young couple that meets in the summer holidays. She is rich and he is poor, to say it in short terms. And after the summer they split but, good luck, they can´t forget each other. But the mother of the girl doesn´t agree with her choice. We find out during the movie that the love story is the story of the two old people. The old man reads the sory again and again because she doesn´t know who she is and who he is anymore. But sometimes, in very short moments she remembers, that´s why he is with her. I know I know it is helpless unrealistic but soooooo sad and touching. Girls, take some chocolate and some papers to blow your nose. Enjoy.

The story of us

Ben Jordan (Bruce Willis) and Katie Jordan (Michelle Pfeiffer) are married since 15 years. They have two lovely american kids but somehow the love got lost along the way. So what are they doing? Right, they send their wonderful kids to this holiday camp and then they split. And while boney american beauty Katie alias Michelle Pfeiffer is doing everything she does anwayway Ben alias Bruce Willis lies in bed in a hotel watching TV. Sometimes they meet with friends, seperatly of course. They both look amazingly good living with the desperation. Katie starts having dates with a charming, divorced dentist. Ben finds a house where he moves into. In between the two actors are telling us in outcut scences how they feel, why all these things are happening and how they hurt each other. And of course only the other one is to blame. But what would Hollywood be without a happy end? Actually this movie is made quite nice, having the difficulty of a long relationship as the main topic, so it starts where most love stories and. And even though it is Holloywood through and through it is authentic made. Bruce Willis is doing a good job out of action stuff.

Maria Montessori: una vita per i bambini (2007)

These days I've been watching a twofold Italian TV film about Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori schools. As you can tell by the subtitle - una vita per i bambini - it's the kind of historic movie that's all in ochre and sunbathed colours, where even the real poor children beating each other up in the streets make you long for the good old times when life was so slow and colourful, before cars arrived and people started to sit with crooked backs like me right now. Because Maria Montessori (charismatic Paola Cortellesi) has a very straight back, you know. She also has a very strong character, especially in dialogue with the masses of men (Maria Montessori was the first woman in Italy to study medicine) that have no idea children don't need only clean beds but also warmth and affection - and a patient and warm side to it that makes all the rioting children come circle around her feet when she sits down in a corner with a baby in her arms. If only life was that easy for me! If only I was like that! - It's always nice to watch a movie where you can rely on the main character to remain true to (especially) her-self whatever dictator comes up. The impersonation of a pretty thought...

Requiem

Anneliese Michel grows up in a small catholic village in Bavaria. Her parents are very religious, the family goes to church every sunday and prays before the melas and before going to sleep. We get to know Anneliese when she is 21 years old and she just got the acceptance of the university in Tübingen. Her mother doesn´t want her to go but her father supports his daughter. Annelies starts to study and enjoys her freedom. But then the the seizures start again. Voices are screaming at her, she is panicking, she has epileptic seizures. They are worse than ever before. Anneliese goes from one doctor to another but she is not paying attention to the advice to go to a psycho analyst. She is convinced that won´t help. She starts to think she is possessed by some evil power, by deamonds or devils. So she starts an Exorzismus. This movie is after a true story that happened in the 70s. The main actress Sandra Hueller is just amazing. Watch it.